What a 40,000 lb. / 18,000 kg. BURL looks like

Evertime I go hiking and exploring in the redwoods, there is something unique or different to see and take photos of. Burls included.

The Burl below is on a coast redwood in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and one forest researcher wrote that it weighs 20 tons, or 40,000 pounds. A bit bigger I recall. Imagine that - 18,000 Kilograms. The trunk is 24' diameter.

I'm going to dig through some image files for a couple of odd shaped ones. Just saw one on the Boy Scout Tree that looks like a huge pair of lips up high on the trunk. Reminds me of the Simpsons.

That lump on the left side of the tree above your head? Looks to have a diameter of at most about 1.5-1.7 metres, which - with a rough density of a tonne per cubic metre - I can't see it exceeding about 5 tonnes, and probably less than that. Or does it extend a long way out of view of the photo round the rear of the tree?

That lump on the left side of the tree above your head? Looks to have a diameter of at most about 1.5-1.7 metres, which - with a rough density of a tonne per cubic metre - I can't see it exceeding about 5 tonnes, and probably less than that. Or does it extend a long way out of view of the photo round the rear of the tree?

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Not sure of exact measurements, but my guess is that Robert Van Pelt was probably correct with "20 tons" in Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast. His book photo shows that it extends around to the hill side too. Judging by the person in Van Pelt's book image from a different angle, the burl looks to be over 3 meters high. Gauging from the 24 feet diamter, proportionately the burl looks upwards of 2 meters wide.

It may appear smaller, because I'm standing in front of the tree. Standing beneath the burl, the bottom of it is about 12 feet off the ground. With my walking stick raised, I could touch the tip to the burl's underside.

Here's an odd shaped one below on Boy Scout Tree. Reminds me of a Simpson's character mouth.

Attached Files:

Some weeks after I posted this topic, had a chance to get together with a park ranger I know on his off-time. He made a pretty good model. Its hard to do a shot like this alone or without a remote. Same redwood as the first post. But check out the difference with this view. See him?

Awesome! On that last pic, what is growing on the burl? It looks pretty big - could it be a small redwood? The do grow new plants out of burls, right, or is that not while they are still attached to the living tree?

Can you explain what a burl is? What causes them. I have what I now think might be a burl on one of the native trees here. I think this thing is caused by insects, probably a gall. Or is this something that only happens to the Red woods. The few Red woods that grow in this area (planted by humans) are really quiet small even tho some are over a hundred years old. Makes me wonder how old the one in the pic is. It looks huge like our old Mountain ash (Eucalypt) around here that missed the timber getters in the mid 18th to 19th century. Thanks for the great pics

Awesome! On that last pic, what is growing on the burl? It looks pretty big - could it be a small redwood? The do grow new plants out of burls, right, or is that not while they are still attached to the living tree?

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For certain I knew there was a fern on it. Polypodium scouleri - that's the foliage growing down. Had to look at a bigger file to see the upper foliage on the burl, and it appears to be a young western hemlock tree.

Can you explain what a burl is? What causes them. I have what I now think might be a burl on one of the native trees here. I think this thing is caused by insects, probably a gall. Or is this something that only happens to the Red woods. The few Red woods that grow in this area (planted by humans) are really quiet small even tho some are over a hundred years old. Makes me wonder how old the one in the pic is. It looks huge like our old Mountain ash (Eucalypt) around here that missed the timber getters in the mid 18th to 19th century. Thanks for the great pics

liz

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Looks like Wikipedia has enough on it's burl page that listing the link to it is the most streamlined way to answer:

" One of the largest burls known was found around 1984 in the small town of Tamworth, Australia. It stands 6.4 ft tall, with an odd shape resembling a trombone." Wikipedia wonder what type of native that is on??